10 Cloverfield Lane (15)

Two’s company, three’s a paranoia riddled crowd in 10 Cloverfield Lane, a thrilling companion piece to the 2008 found footage sci-fi flick Cloverfield, which witnessed an otherworldly attack on New York City through the lens of a resident’s camcorder.

The monsters in Dan Trachtenberg’s suffocating three-hander are distinctly human but no less terrifying, driven to acts of violence and barbarity in the name of self-preservation.

Josh Campbell, Matt Stuecken and Damien Chazelle’s deliciously ambiguous script keeps us guessing about where that safety might be, constantly shifting the balance of power between characters whose ulterior motives are shrouded in mystery.

Every time we think we have a grasp on the slippery narrative, the film pulls another rug from under us, flinging us into a mire of nerve-jangling confusion.

Michelle (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), is driving away from her old life, when her car spins out of control down a bank. She regains consciousness in an underground bunker, at the mercy of a survivalist called Howard Stambler (John Goodman).

As she regains her strength, Michelle learns that Howard saved her and his neighbour Emmett (John Gallagher Jr) shortly before a global attack rendered the surface of the Earth uninhabitable.

The trio are cocooned in an airtight bunker, 40ft below the polluted surface without any telephone signal, until the air is breathable again. However, Michelle isn’t sure if she can trust everything Howard says.

10 Cloverfield Lane is a polished masterclass in suggestion that sends chills down the spine with unsettling regularly. Goodman is genuinely creepy as the conspiracy theorist who doesn’t tolerate defiance of his rules in his underground lair.

Winstead and Gallagher Jr are equally strong as discombobulated house guests, who harbour secrets that could destroy them or set them free.

Trachtenberg’s direction draws on the claustrophobic setting to plant seeds of doubt and suspicion, including a couple of thrilling action sequences with delightfully unexpected pay-offs.

Four stars

SAN SEBASTIAN, SPAIN - SEPTEMBER 21: Actors (L-R) Tom Hiddleston, Sienna Miller and Luke Evans attend the "High-Rise" photocall at the Kursaal Palace during the 63rd San Sebastian International Film Festival on September 22, 2015 in San Sebastian, Spain. (Photo by Carlos Alvarez/Getty Images)

High-Rise (15)

Set almost entirely within a 40-storey monolith brutally forged in concrete and steel, High-Rise charts the disintegration of society by pitting the lower, middle and upper classes against each other on their respective floors of the building.

Explosions of violence spatter the lens as morality is cast aside, including one startling sequence of a man committing suicide by flinging himself off the building.

A tone of jet black humour is injected in the opening frames as Dr Robert Laing (Tom Hiddleston) sits on the balcony of his flat, roasting the remains of a dog on a spit.

Man’s best friend has become sizzling sustenance in a once pristine idyll that has degenerated into a battleground across the class divide.

The narrative rewinds three months to Robert’s arrival on the 25th floor. He sunbathes naked and catches the eye of single mother Charlotte Melville (Sienna Miller), who lives upstairs with her precocious son, Toby (Louis Suc).

She introduces Robert to some other residents, including officious busybody Nathan (Reece Shearsmith) and documentary filmmaker Richard Wilder (Luke Evans), who neglects his heavily pregnant wife Helen (Elisabeth Moss) to chase other women.

The medic is granted a private audience with the building’s architect, Anthony Royal (Jeremy Irons), who lives in the penthouse with his emotionally brittle wife, Ann (Keeley Hawes). Power outages, which affect the lower floors, stoke resentment, eventually sparking civil war which claims the life of one beloved pet and a number of the residents.

High-Rise revels in the debauchery of the era, with orgiastic scenes ofgroup sex and consumer greed.

Hiddleston is an engaging lead character, pandering to his fans with nudity and a dancing sequence that sees him frotting a gaggle of uniform air hostesses in lustrous slow-motion.

As a coherent narrative that sustains interest for two hours, Wheatley’s film has some structural weaknesses and his impeccably tailored vision will infuriate and bemuse as many people as it intoxicates.

Risen (12A)

Timed for release before Easter, Risen dramatises Christ’s resurrection from the perspective of a Roman tribune, who does not believe in the existence of a saviour.

Director Kevin Reynolds’ search for spiritual enlightenment, co-written by Paul Aiello, treats its subject with utmost earnestness and is unabashedly targeted at a key demographic.

Unfortunately, the glossy reimagining of the central doctrine in Christianity is plodding and occasionally veers into the realms of campness, courtesy of unintentionally hilarious dialogue.

Audiences seeking a miracle of directorial brio will have to look elsewhere. Pontius Pilate (Peter Firth) dispatches tribune Clavius (Joseph Fiennes) and new aide Lucius (Tom Felton) to oversee the crucifixion of Yeshua the Nazarene (Cliff Curtis) in front of a baying crowd.

The body of Yeshua is placed in a sealed tomb and Clavius stations two guards outside the heavy rock door to appease Jewish high priest Caiaphas (Stephen Greif ), who fears the body will be stolen.

The prophecy comes to pass and rumours circulate that Yeshua has risen from the dead to lead his people. Mindful that Emperor Tiberius will soon visit the region, Pilate orders Clavius to locate the body and prove Yeshua did perish on the cross.

“Without a corpse to prove him dead, we have a potential Messiah!” barks the prefect. Clavius tracks down the disciples and a man who seems to be Yeshua, alive and exceedingly well, which shakes the tribune’s beliefs to his core.

He abandons his war-mongering duties to fraternise with MaryMagdalene (Maria Botto) and Peter (Stewart Scudamore). Meanwhile, Lucius returns to Judea to report on murmurings of a resurrection.

“Perhaps it’s true,” the aide meekly speculates. “If it is, I’ll kill him again!” Pilate defiantly snarls. Risen proffers little to engage secular audiences, despite a committed performance from Fiennes as a man of war, who downs his weapons to tread a more spiritual and righteous path.

The opening section, which sees Clavius turn detective to discoverthe truth about Yeshua’s disappearance, is solid, but once the tribune heads into the desert with the disciples, Reynolds’ picture loses momentum and focus.